The poem has a balanced structure with two verses mirroring each other. This emphasizes the idea of the first stanza, which describes the mirror, reflecting the second stanza where the character of the woman is developed. The statements made by the mirror are short, simple informative to convince the reader of the reliability and objectivity of the mirror.

In the first stanza the mirror introduces itself. It claims to “have no preconceptions” and that it reflects whatever it sees “unmisted” by emotions such as “love or dislike” and “exact” without any distortions. However, later it talks about the wall being “part of my heart” and that it “meditates” on that wall. This suggests having emotion and b

Throughout the poem the mirror is shown as an arrogant object in need of power and importance. The metaphor of mirror being “the eye of a little god” is sustained throughout the poem signifying the power it has. “I am important to her. She comes and goes.” states the value of the mirror for the woman and indicates that the woman is addicted to the mirror to the point where she’s searching “for what she really is” in the mirror, despite the fact that the mirror is cruel and blunt. This again gives power to the mirror.

The mirror also represents itself as “not cruel, only truthful”, “faithful”, honest and reliable. This eventually becomes too honest and too blunt for the woman and “she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon” for a distorted image of herself in order to not see her ageing in the soft focus. This suggests that the mirror has no compassion and that it is cruel, emphasizing its hypocrisy.

A diction motif of “lake” is seen in the second stanza. A lake has more depth than a mirror because it’s a thre

Some topics in this essay:
Sylvia Plath, depth mirror, physical appearance, candles moon”, lake depth mirror, liars candles moon”, , “she liars candles, mirror reflecting, throughout poem, lake depth, “she liars, suggests mirror, terrible fish”, liars candles,